If you’ve experimented with Microsoft Azure, or are already using it for some of your IT functionality, you may be ready to take that next step and integrate your infrastructure with Azure so you can use it as an extension to your on-premises infrastructure. Finding all the information that helps you do this can be very time consuming.

The diagram illustrates how an organization can extend its on-premises datacenter to Microsoft Azure. It’s an interactive diagram. Download the file and open it in your browser. If Internet Explorer asks you if you want to allow blocked content, you’ll need to allow it to enable the interactivity. This message appears because the page contains script that enables the interactivity. Hovering your mouse over most objects in the diagram will provide additional details about the implementation of the object. Clicking on many of the objects will open a relevant design or implementation article about the object.

If you already have some experience with Azure, this will help you understand how to use it as a true extension to your on-premises datacenter. If not, it’s recommended that you gain a basic understanding of Azure before using this diagram. The example data and links within the diagram should save you countless hours of searching for all the information you’ll need to extend your on-premises datacenter to Azure. A video walkthrough of the diagram is also available. The editable Visio diagram and spreadsheet (with data) used in this interactive diagram are available as separate downloads.